Automatic crossing-bar apparatus for single-track railways



April 2, 1929- Y. OGAWA 1,707,872

AUTOIATIC CROSSING BAR APPARATUS FOR SINGLE TRACK RAILWAYS Filed July21. 1925 v 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 2, 1929. Y. OGAWA 1,707,872.

AUTOMATIC CROSSING BAR APPARATUS FOR SINGLE TRACK RAILWAYS Filed July21, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 y zV M, W w M M fix??? April 1929- I v. oGAwA1,707,872

AUTOMATIC CROSSING BAR APPARATUS FOR SINGLE TRACK RAILWAYS Filed July21, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 fnupnfor Y O ga wa.

April 1929- Y. OGAWA 1,707,872

AUTOIATIC CROSSING BAR APPARATUS FOR SINGLE TRACK RAILWAYS Filed July21, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 j77//7/0f mgan a 4 fay Aw, Wm d raw April 2,1929. QGAWA 1,707,872

AUTOIATIC cnossme BAR APPARATUS FOR SINGLE VTRACK RAILWAYS Filed July21, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 ,1 J W ,M riw M7 /$/yj Y. OGAWA 1,707,872

AUTOMATIC CROSSING BAR APPARATUS FOR SINGLE TRACK RAILWAYS April 2,1929.

Filed July 21, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 [nuentor YOgawa,

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Patented Apr. 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES YUKIMASA OGAWA, OF FUKUCHI-MURA, JAPAN.

AuromA rIc CROSSING-BAR APPARATUS ron smenrr'rrmcx RAILWAYS.

Application filed iul zl, 1925. Serial No. 45,060.

This invention relates to an apparatus which automatically closes andopens-a crossing bar or bars for a single track railway. It has for itsobject to obtain an automatic reliable means for controlling crossingbars when a train or car passes along the crossing in either directionof the railway.

To the best of my knowledge, a'known automatic crossing gate arrangementis provided with a member near the rail, and the depression of themember due to a passing car or train sets the member in motion foroperating mechanism. But in such an apparatus, the ground member issometimes the source of unreliability of the apparatus, so that such anapparatus is not practicable. In this invention there is no visiblemember on the ground to be depressed or struck by the passing car ortrain, so that there is no possibility of destruction of the apparatusdue to the repeated shocks by cars or trains.

The nature of my invention can be clearly understood by referring totheaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a generalarrangement of the apparatus, while Fig. 2 is a side view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the motive mechanism by which thecrossing bars are automatically raised or lowered.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3,and shown on a 7 larger scale.

Fig. 4 shows a swinging plate on a large scale. I

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the mechanism taken from the oppositeside to that shown in Fig. 3.

-Figs. 6, 6", and 6 illustrate the successive positions of a controllingmechanism as here inafter described.

Fig. 7 is a detail view of a part of the controlling mechanism in astate of rest, while Fig. 7" is a perspective view, the parts being inmot-ion.

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are perspective views of levers provided under a railor rails.

In Figs. 1 and 2, each pair of levers 2 and 3 is laid under a railorrails 1 at a distance on each side of the crossing, and a lever 4 islaid under a rail or rails adjacent the crossing. The levers 2 areconveniently placed at a distance of about eight hundred meters awayfrom the crossing While thelevers '3 are placed at a distance of aboutfour hundred meters. r

Three examples of such levers are shown 1n Figs. 8, 9 and 10 inconnection with the levers 4, 3 and 2, respectively. One or both ends ofthe levers 2, 3 or 4 are constantly in contact with the underside ofrail or rails 1 by means of a hooked end 2, 3 or 4 which cramps the webof the rail, and an intermediate lever 3" or 4" is used in the examplesshown in Figs. 8 and 9. The levers 2, 3 or 4" have a large leverage, theshorter arm projecting beneath the rail or rails, a permitted verticalmovement of the rail or rails due to the weight of a passing car ortrain being magnified and transmitted to the operative mechanism bymeans of a guide pulley 2 or 4* or a. lever 3.

Referring to Figs. 3, 3, land 5, a pillar 5 is erected adjacent thecrossing, and a base plate 6 of the motive mechanism is firmly boltedthereto. A stanchion 7 also secures the base plate in a propermanner soas to ensure its rigidity, and a crossing bar 8 is pivoted on the top ofthe stanchion.

One surface of the base plate, which surface will be called the frontside hereinafter, is provided with a grooved pulley 9 the same eingmounted on a stud, and an arm 10 of a weight 10 is integrally mounted ona side of the pulley. The extreme end 10 of the arm extends throughrectangular slots 11 provided on two curved pieces 11 which are fixedon'the front side of the base plate.

A revolving pawl 12 with two blades, 12' and 12", disposed'in oppositedirections is pivoted between the two curved pieces in such a positionthat the tip of the blades extends in the way of the arms end 10, sothat the latter hits the blade when the arms tip travels downwards alongthe slots 11. A Z-shaped piece with round head 23, which will be calleda setter hereinafter, is mounted on the axis of the pawl 12, in such amanner that the inclination of the setter relative to the blades isabout 45 to the counter direction to that of its rotation. This is bestshown in Fig. 7 As is seen in Fig. 7 one of the blades, 12, has a flatedge while the other, 12", is of forked end.

The back side of the base plate, see Fig. 5, is provided with a swingingplate 13 and a bell crank 14, both of which are pivoted on a commonstud. The longer arm of the bell crank has a heavy weight which is alittle more weighty than the crossing bars The swinging plate has aprojection 15 on its back side extending from the front side through awindow on the plate. The projection is integrally provided on a pivotedmember 16 on the front side of the plate 13, and the free end of same isloosely jointed to an end of.v

motion of the other member ll'fconsequently,

the projection 15 appears upon or disappears from the back side of theswinging plate.

The member 17 is of inverted U-shape,

and its free end extends real-wards and downwards throughout a curvedslot 6, on the base plate, so that the swinging plate can swing up anddown having the member 17 sliding'along theslot. Of course the slot 6ismade in an arc with the same center as the swinging plate, and theinverted U-shaped member iscurved sidewise so as to coincide with thecurvature of the slot 6 The center of gravity of the member 17 being ina rearwardposition with respect to the pivoting pin 17*, this memberalways takes such a position as to let the member 16 thrust itsprojection 15 out of the back side of the plate 13, while the longer armof the bell crank rests on the projection. It should be noted that theprojection is of wedge shape with its horizontal surface upward and itsinclined surface downward, so that the weight of the bell crank restingon the projection does not permit the project-ion to move into itsopening, but when the bell crank is rising 'alongthe side of theswinging plate, the arm of said bell crank presses'the-projection intoits opening and can pass over the-projection. Of course the projectionresumes its normal position as soon as the arm haspassed over. The freeend of the inverted U-shaped member extends downwards, and registerswith the tip of the blade of the setter when the swinging plate takesits lowermost position. c 1 i q On the upper part of the curved piece11, is pivoted on a stud 19 an unbalanced weight 19 with two arms, oneofwhich, 19, extends into the way of "the end 10 'of the-M11110 along.the groove 11*, while the'other 19 always tends to press the setter bythe un-. balanced weight. In other words, the weight- 19 always pressesthe setter with itsarni 19 in order to let the setter. take the verticalpomakes the setter cupies the extreme counterclockwise position due totheweight 10. Thls is the position jection 15 in the swinging plate, andthe bell crank as well as the swinging plate occupy then-lowest positiondue to the unbalanced weight of the bell crank. The crossing bars 8being connected with the swinging plate by means of a rope 9 or the'like, and the unbalanced weir tbeing'heavier than the crossing bars, thebars are kept up to open the crossing so long as the swinging plate 7occupies its lowest position. I

[i -ope 22 connects hothcrossingbars in a proper way so that the baroneach side of the crossing gets up anddown simultaneously coacting witheach other. i 7

An alarm bell, either electrical or mechanical, is provided adjacent thecrossing, and a rope extending from each of the levers 12 causes thebell to ringby a magnified pull of the lever when a 'car moves above therails above the lever. f

Referring to Figs. 6 and7, Fig. 6 shows the relative position of thepawl, thesetter, the rod, the unbalanced weight and the invertedU-shaped member. Thesepositions of the members are assumedat the timethe crossing is open. The end of the arm 1O presses an arm 19 of theunbalancedflweight upward, so that another arm 19" of the same pressesthe setter in its vertical position, and either blade of the pawl is ata little distance to get in touch with the inverted UTshaped member.When a car gets over the rails on the lever 3, the arm 1O turnsclockwise as beforedescribed, and the end of the arm 10 travels alongthe slots 11 from top to. bottom. This travel lets the arm interferewith one of the blades of the pawl and turns it to the sues cessivepositions as shown in Figs. 6" and 6. W hen the blades have passed overtheir hori: zontalposition, see Fig. 6, the setter comes in contact withthe arm 19 As the blades rcvolve the setter also revolves forcing thearm 19 outwards. When the blades have get near to their verticalposition, the round end of the setter comes about to get out of con,tact with the arm iof the weight 19, which rotate further till thelatter completes half a revolution. If the forked ended blade ofthepawlhas occupied before the half rotation wasv mane, such a positionas to interfere with the arm 10, the flat ended blade forces outtheinverted U- shaped member during the rotation as shown in Fig. 6 sothat the projection 15 sinks or disappears from the side'of the. plate13. But, if the flat ended blade, has occupied such positions, theforked ended blade does not interfere with the inverted U-shaped memberduring the rotation, since the member registers wit-l1 the forked spaceof the blade as clearly shown in Fig. 7". This is the most important Ycharacteristic of the revolving pawl.

When the arm 10 travels in reverse direction the arm interferes with theblade at its underside, but the blade resumes its position after alittle rotation due to the pressure of the setter.

The action of the apparatus is asfollows hen a train or a car gets onthe rails on the lever 2, the alarm bell at first rings. lVhen the cargets to the lever 3, the rope 20 is pulled to rotate the arm 10 and thearm, in turn, hits the forked ended blade, which in this case has beenkept in the position to interfere with the arm, in order to allow theprojection 15 to move in from the side of the plate 13. 7

Prior to this time, the unbalanced weight of the bell crank 14 has beenresting on the projection as shown in Fig. 5, and the swing-' ing platehas been kept in its lowest position due to the weight. As soon as theprojection sinks or disappears from the side of the plate, the plateslides up owing to the weight of the crossing bars which are connectedwith the plate, leaving the weight or bell crank behind. Thus thecrossing bars descend to close the crossing by their own weight, asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

As soon as the car has passed over the lever 3, the rope 20 is released,and the arm 10 returns to its original position.

The passing car next gets to the lever 4, and the downward motion of thelever pulls the rope 21, and raises the bell crank 14. \Vhen the longerarm of'the bell crank passes over the projection on the swinging plate,which has been kept in its highestposition, the yielding projection 15again gets out of the way of the plate, and, when the car passes overthe lever 4, the rope 21 is released, the unbalanced weight of the bellcrank 14 permits the swinging plate to swing down pulling the crossingbars to open the crossing. Thus the crossing bars resume their ordinarypositions when the car passes over the lever 14.

lVhen the car gets on the second lever 3, the rope 20 extending from thesecond lever is pulled and the arm 10*, which has been in its. top-mostposition, gets down as before. This of course lets the pawl 12 turn asbefore, but the inverted U-shaped member is no little affected by theblades, because, in this case, the forked ended blade passes under themember untouched, so that the swinging plate does not rotate as before,and the pawl returns to its original position, in which the motivemechanism is set'to operate for the next car or train coming next fromeither direction.

Claims 1. An automatic crossing-bar apparatus for asingle track railway,comprising a lever adapted to be placed beneath the rail or rails at apoint remote from the crossin in each direction another lever adapted tobe placed beneath the rail or rails adjacent the crossing and a motivemechanism, which includes an unbalanced weight controlled by the ac--anism, which includes an unbalanced weight,

a rod extendng from said weight, curved pieces having slots throughwhich said rod passes, a base plate to. which said curved pieces aresecured, a revolving boss with a forked ended and a flat edged bladebeing p0- sitioned in such a manner that either one of the bladesinterferes with the rod when the latter travels along the slots, and asetter on the common axis to the pawl.

3. An automatic crossing bar apparatus for a single track railway,comprising a lever adapted to be placed beneath the rail or rails atapoint remote from the crossing in each direction and a motive mechanismwhich includes a swinging plate and a bell-crank ivoted on a commonstud, said swinging p ate being provided with a projection so as toproject out or sink from a side of the plate according to the control ofa mechanism effected by the action of an unbalanced weight, and saidbell crank being constructed to slide along the plate from bottom to topover the projection, but can not get down over the projection so long asthe latter is not sunk by its controlling mechanism, and the unbalancedweight is controlled by the action of the first said levers.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

YUKIMASA OGAWA.

